The
Arthurian League began its 08/09 campaign with an away fixture against the
London Legal League. With a strong squad heading into the fixture, hopes were
high before the game of getting a good result. The team consisted of
representatives from Lancing, Brentwood, Harrow,
Heading
into the game a squad of 14 was selected. Unfortunately a late pull out from
David Lederman (
The game
started at a frantic pace with both sides struggling to get the ball down and
play any football of substance. Both sides gave the ball away carelessly in the
opening stages, with a couple of hairy moments leading to back-to-back corners
for the away side to deal with. Fortunately, with the dominant James Butcher
(Lancing Old Boys) in goal, these situations were dealt with.
As the half
progressed, the ever lively Henry Nash (Old Carthusians)
started to cause the home defence trouble. A quick burst of pace down the left
hand side and a smart pull back to George Wilson (Old Foresters) almost led to
the opening goal, but this shot was blocked and the home side escaped with a
corner. The away side was starting to dominate the play with Rob Marshall (Old
Foresters) and Matt Bailey (Old Carthusians) in
centre midfield both distributing the ball well.
It wasn't
too much longer 'till the Arthurian Rep side was in front. A well worked piece
of play by the away side led to Brad Osbourn (Old Brentwoods) sliding in a perfectly weighted through-ball
for George Wilson (Old Foresters) to convert from a narrow angle. This was just
what the away side were looking for and lifted all of our play. We dominated
play 'till the half, forcing several more corners.
The 2nd
half began with the Arthurian side building on its first half performance and
improving substantially. Within 5 minutes of the restart the lead was
increased: a smart through ball down the left hand side from Paul Molloy (Old Harrovians) on to James Dunne (Old Foresters) whose shot
was parried into the path of Henry Nash (Old Carthusians).
This put the away side 2-0 up with Nash getting the goal his work rate
deserved.
The
Arthurian side was now controlling all the play using the superior fitness and
ball control to completely dominate the game. A throw-in in a dangerous area
led to a second goal for Nash. A lay back from
After this
goal, the game was effectively ended as a contest, since the Arthurian defence
was never really troubled by the home sides attack. An injury forced off Henry
Nash, who was replaced by Fred Palley (Old Carthusians) with 30 minutes remaining. This meant Osborn
went to his favoured up-front position and Molloy moved to a more familiar
right midfield. It wasn't long 'till Osborn showed why attack was his favourite
position with a cool rounding of the 'keeper and finish in off the post. It was
now 4-0 to the away side with over 20 minutes left to play.
We
continued to keep hold of the ball with Richard Griston
(Old Carthusians) and debutant Alex Donnellan (Old Foresters) playing the ball calmly out from
defence. Palley fitted in well and put in a solid
display, as did the other full back Billy French (Old Foresters).
Unfortunately, the away side was unable to extend its lead, with the best
chance falling to Marshall who dragged his shot wide of the target. The away
side never looked like conceding with Butcher not having to make a save for the
entire game.
Over all a
very good display from the Arthurian side and should set us up well for the
season!
Arthurian
League (4-4-2): James Butcher (Lancing); Billy French (Forest),
Alex Donnellan (Forest), Matt Bailey (Charterhouse),
Richard Griston (Charterhouse), Rob Marshall
(Forest), Paul Molloy (Harrow); Henry Nash (Charterhouse), Brad Osborn
(Brentwood), James Dunne (Forest), George Wilson (Forest)
Sub: Fred Palley
(Charterhouse)